Category: United States and the Americas

The immediate effect of the Executive Order by the US President was complete confusion and chaos at the airports as approved refugees, valid visa holders, non-US dual citizens and US legal residents were detained, barred from planes or ordered out of the US. A Federal Judge in New York ordered a stay on the deportation of the people with valid visas. Universities, hospitals and tech companies staggered from the order which threatens or has already banned thousands of doctors, students, researchers, engineers and others. Refugees persecuted for their sexual orientation…

His entry into the White House was marked with the beginning of an era of pride not only for himself but also for the colour-skinned Americans. He marvelled in certain fields of public service such as marriage equality, expanded healthcare, a renewed economy, federal divestment from for-profit prisons, the Fair Sentencing Act reducing the disparity between crack and cocaine sentencing, the end of the war in Iraq, the appointment of the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice and a lot more. During this time, it was witnessed that equality is never…

The elections in the United States of America, the most powerful nation of our times, are over. These elections, according to many observers, were most controversial and unpredictable. In nearly two years of electioneering, both parties were fiercely engaged in naming and blaming each other so much so, that the FBI had to intervene and investigate the allegations against Hillary Clinton the Democratic Party’s candidate. Although she was vindicated twice, but her last clearance was only two days before the ballot. On the other hand, Donald Trump, the Republican candidate…

By M Nazir Tabassum The Presidential elections take place in the US after every four years. Today is the day that American’s decide between Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump. According to the 22nd Amendment of the US Constitution, an incumbent president cannot contest presidential election a third time, that is, the term of the president is limited to only two terms. The presidential primaries and caucuses took place between February and June 2016 in 50 states and the District of Columbia and US territories. As a result of these, Donald…

by Mohammad Nazir Tabassum A prophet of socialism, Fedel Castro, former President of Cuba, prophesied sometimes in 1973: “The US will come to talk to us when they have a black president and the world has a Latin American Pope.” On Sunday afternoon, 20th March this prophesy turned out to be true when the Black American President Mr Barack Hussein Obama along with the first lady Michelle Obama and their two daughters, Sasha and Malia, landed at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana. And the incumbent pope is Pope Francis,…

by Nazir Tabbussam When Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik killed 14 and injured many at a Christmas party going on in San Bernardino (California), President Barack Obama addressed the shooting from the Oval Office saying it is possible the massacre in San Bernardino was related to terrorism, but it’s also possible it was workplace-related. As compared to this sober statement most appropriate to a statesman, the republican hopefull presidential candidate for the forthcoming US presidential elections, Mr Donald Trump has been quite reckless in his response. On December 7 he…

Once again, the same incidents dominate the media, in particular surrounding the situation about the United States police and the racial tension against the black community. It’s a topic that I have pondered over many a times and I find myself asking the following question… is racism really abolished? Maybe this will answer my question. ‘I can’t breathe’ The infamous phrase was one of the last words of an unarmed black father, Eric Garner. Eric Garner died due to a ‘chokehold’ position a police officer in the United States of…

The three sisters with their nine young children from Bradford who travelled to war-torn Syria, last month, generated massive publicity both in the national and international media, has left many observers dumbfounded. Many columnists and analysts have theorised a number of reasons these families’ leaving a safe and secure living place in Britain for a country unsafe and insecure to the extremes of one’s imagination. Over the years, both Syria and Iraq have become a magnet for youngsters of the Muslim communities the world over and a breeding ground for…

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of one of America’s greatest and arguably most influential African American civil rights activists in history, Malcolm X. I had the huge honour of speaking alongside Malaak Shabbaz, the youngest daughter of Malcom X and a world leading humanitarian within her own right, when she visited Bradford in December as part of the 2014 UK tour ‘An insight into Malcolm X’. I remember being nervous with excitement at the sheer thought of being in the presence of someone who continues to…

Apple is sued for claiming iPhones have 16GB of storage when its operating system takes up more than a fifth of available space. A lawsuit has been filed against Apple, accusing the technology giant of promising more available storage space than it actually delivers in its iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch devices. The plaintiffs argue that while Apple advertises 16 gigabytes of digital storage on lower price models of gadgets such as iPhones, about a fifth of that is eaten up by the latest operating software. The percentage of space touted…